secretary clinton, ambassador rice, undersecretary for political affairs ambassador wendy sherman and i have all spoken or met with senior congleeze rue wanden, you ganden, and u.n. officials in the past weeks and months to advocate for a peaceful end to the crisis. i have traveled to the region just last month with my british and french counter parts to press the governments to work together to stop the crisis and to address the underlying causes of instability. all three governments reiterated to us their commitment to these shared goals. in the u.n. security council we have taken action to ensure that five of the most senior m-23's most abusive commanders are now under targeted sanctions and we have placed those same individuals under u.s. sanctions. talks between the drc government and the m-23 began on december 9 in ugenda and are mediated as the chair of the international conference on the great lake regions known as the icglr. while the two sides have yet to begin substantive talks the current ceasefire in the eastern drc is holding and the parties continue to express commitmen